The generously of the great, great, great, great grandson of a Revolutionary War veteran will benefit Allen County students in the decades and centuries to come. In a ceremony Monday afternoon at the Allen County Board of Education, officials with the College Heights Foundation at Western Kentucky University announced that WKU alumnus Dr. Delroy Hire has funded the establishment of the Patriot Samuel W. Garrison Memorial Scholarship. Not only did Garrison serve his country in the American Revolution, Garrison was one of Scottsville and Allen County’s founding fathers.
“The College Heights Foundation was founded in 1923 with the primary objective to create funds through voluntary gifts so that desiring students could be aided and assisted in their efforts to obtain an education,” explained College Heights Foundation President Dr. Donald Smith. “The College Heights Foundation now administers more than 1,200 different scholarship funds and each one of those funds tells a different story. The stories behind these scholarship funds are what makes each special and unique. Today, we announce a new scholarship fund that creates its own special story. Thanks to the generous gesture of support from Dr. and Mrs. Delroy Hire, the Patriot Samuel W. Garrison Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established within the College Heights Foundation. It will benefit deserving students from Allen County in perpetuity.”
Smith added that the Patriot Samuel W. Garrison Memorial Scholarship Fund honors all the patriots who help establish the United States as well as the man for whom the scholarship is named.
Samuel W. Garrison and his wife, Ester, moved from North Carolina to southern Kentucky in 1797. Settling on 200 acres just south of present-day Scottsville, Garrison helped to establish Allen County in 1815. He would serve as Allen County’s first state representative, help create the first educational school in the county, and serve as one of five trustees when the city of Scottsville was created in 1817.
“It is an honor and pleasure to establish this scholarship in the most historical manner,” Dr. Hire said. “The scholarship is established during the bicentennial celebration of the establishment of Allen County. It is especially a pleasure to establish this scholarship on August 24, 2015, the 253rd birthday of my great, great, great, great grandfather. Samuel W. Garrison was more than an American soldier for freedom and independence. He was a dedicated public servant, a devout patriot and a significant figure in the history of Allen County.”
The Patriot Samuel W. Garrison Memorial Scholarship Fund will benefit students graduating from any high school in Allen County. The funds can be utilized at any accredited college or university.
Dr. Hire is a 1962 WKU graduate and a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Hire served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy. He currently resides in Florida but remains connected to the local area through family and friends.
“My interest is to help students,” Dr. Hire noted. “A scholarship is a legacy that can be passed on to students in perpetuity. I hope this fund for Allen County students is a true legacy to one of the town’s founding fathers.”
The Patriot Samuel W. Garrison Scholarship Fund marks the fourth occasion Dr. Hire has created a scholarship fund to enable students to continue their education beyond high school along with honoring a family member. Dr. Hire also previously honored his parents’ memory by sponsoring a lecture series on local history in Allen and Monroe counties in Kentucky and Macon County in Tennessee.